Category Archives: Palestinian Authority

Facebook tackles hacking groups with apparent ties to Palestine, Hamas

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Facebook on Wednesday detailed steps it took to counter two groups of alleged Palestinian hackers, one with suspected ties to the Palestinian state and another reportedly linked to the Hamas militant group. The hackers linked to Preventive Security Service (PSS), the Palestinian Authority’s internal intelligence organization, targeted victims primarily in the Palestinian territories and Syria, Facebook said. To a lesser degree, they targeted Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon and Libya. Those attackers went after groups and individuals seemingly viewed as a threat to the Fatah-led government, including journalists, dissidents and human rights activists. They also also aimed at military organizations such as the Syrian opposition and Iraqi military, Facebook said. The alleged Hamas-linked hackers, dubbed Arid Viper, by contrast, targeted victims associated with the Palestinian Authority, government organizations and backers of the Fatah-led government, Facebook said. Facebook periodically conducts takedowns of hacking-related activity, most recently related to a campaign that targeted Uighurs […]

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Report: Malware campaign targeted Palestinian elections

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A new malware campaign dubbed Kasperagent was deployed during recent Palestinian Authority elections, according to a report from ThreatConnect. The perpetrator and exact targets remain unclear. Tactics included malware-laced fake news websites and spearphishing messages with content on political tensions and alleged Israeli assassination in Gaza as well as attack infrastructure with Gaza registrants. “We don’t know for sure who is responsible for this campaign,” the researchers wrote, “but digging into the passive DNS results led us to some breadcrumbs” from the command and control infrastructure running the operation. Discovered in 2016 by Palo Alto Networks, Kasperagent aims at Microsoft Windows systems and has been used on targets in the United States, Israel, Palestinian Territories and Egypt. This latest campaign represents a new variant of the malware that’s been used across the Middle East. The new campaign coincides with and exploits rising political tension in Gaza and the West Bank during the run-up to […]

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